Independent examiner’s report
To the trustees of Friends of Hannah More
I report on the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 July 2025, which are set out on pages 8 to 11 of the Report and Unaudited Financial Statements, Friends of Hannah More, 31 July 2025
Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner
The trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The Charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and an independent examination is needed.
Having satisfied myself that the charity is not subject to audit under Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 and is eligible for independent examination, it is my responsibility to:
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Examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act;
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Follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act; and
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State whether particular matters have come to my attention.
Basis of independent examiner’s report
My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and the seeking of explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters.
The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and, consequently, no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair view’ and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
Independent examiner’s statement
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:
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which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:
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to keep accounting records and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and which comply with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities have not been met;
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or to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Date: 19 April 2026 Signed:
Simon Firth BSc, MSc, CGeol 37 Nutgrove Avenue Bristol BS3 4QF
Charity no. 1196297
Charity no. 1196297
Report and Unaudited Financial Statements Friends of Hannah More 31 July 2025
Friends of Hannah More
Contents
| Contents | |
|---|---|
| Page No. | |
| Reference and Administrative Details | 1 |
| Trustees’ Annual Report | 2 |
| Statement of Financial Activity | 6 |
| Balance Sheet | 7 |
| Notes | 8 |
Friends of Hannah More
Reference and Administrative Details
Year ended 31 July 2025
Friends of Hannah More is a charity.
Charity no. 1196297 Registered office c/o Hannah More Primary School New Kingsley Road Bristol BS2 0LT Trustees Ruth Cochrane - Chair Fathima Shaazna Shanoon - Treasurer Iwona Salamon - Secretary Fatoumata Ba Vivienne Bignell Sarah Franke
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Friends of Hannah More
Trustees’ Annual Report
Year ended 31 July 2025
The trustees are pleased to present their annual report together with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 July 2025. The financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011.
Structure, governance, and management
The organisation obtained formal confirmation of its status as an unincorporated charity when it became registered with the Charity Commission in October 2021, registered number 1196297.
The organisation seeks to appoint trustees based on relevant experience, knowledge of the organisation’s aims and familiarity with the geographical area and diverse community within which it works. Potential trustees are recruited through advertisements, via the school and through word-of-mouth. Those who come forward are then invited for an initial discussion with trustees, followed by an invitation to attend a trustees’ meeting. They may be asked to submit a CV.
Trustees serve for a period of two years and can be re-elected for a further four years, with the chair and treasurer serving for four years, and can be re-elected for a further four years.
The trustees meet 3 times a year to oversee and make decisions about governance and funding. Activity planning and delivery are the responsibility of the committee supported by the Trustees.
Objectives and activities
The charity has general charitable purposes relating to children/young people and people of a particular ethnic or racial origin by providing services, advocacy, advice, and information.
Public benefit
The trustees are satisfied that they have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission whilst exercising their duties and believe that all the organisation’s activities are for the public benefit for the year 2024/25.
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Friends of Hannah More
Trustees’ Annual Report (continued)
Year ended 31 July 2025
Achievements and Performance in 2024/25
Last year, we hosted some popular community activities that helped people to connect and learn new skills. At our cooking sessions with Travelling Kitchen, parents learned about batch-cooking, shared new recipes, met others and held lunches for invited guests. The group was particularly valued by people living in hotels, with no cooking facilities. At the sewing group, parents made bunting for classes and events, and special reading cushions for some classes. At 'Craft and Chat' sessions, participants got together to make crafts inspired by storybooks and took home activities to try with children. To help with communication and to foster new connections, all groups created WhatsApp chats to keep members in touch. We also funded after-school bike sessions, some really popular Saturday swim sessions and girls’ after-school fitness. We supported some school events, such as the bonfire party and Year 6 leavers’ festivities.
Our income this year was just over £57K, this included a major donation from HMRC Gift Aid, and two significant donations from individual supporters of the school community. The majority of this sum was ringfenced for playground improvements. All other income was from grants.
Thanks to grants from the Lottery Community Fund and Sport England, the Craft and the Cookery groups will continue in 2025-2026. We’re also setting up a daytime Yoga Asana /relaxation class for women. 'Resilience' funding from Quartet helped us to plan ahead, improve our social media, and increase our community outreach. We successfully claimed Gift Aid, which allowed us to support cycling and music at school and offer welfare grants to families in need of extra support.
Our main funding for next year - from Sport England and the Lottery's community fund - will allow us to run sports activities for girls and women, along with more community craft and cookery sessions. We remain committed to promoting the values of our diverse community and offering new opportunities, despite all the budget challenges that face the school!
Ongoing support for families
We continued to support families by helping provide ‘extras’ that are often difficult for families to afford, ranging from support with grocery and fuel vouchers to community events such as family swims.
Community, Culture, Legacy, and Well-Being
Our charity exists to support and strengthen our community. Sometimes, hardship can feel overwhelming, but we believe that celebration and creativity always help - even at the most difficult of times. New experiences, enjoyed together, remind us that we share a universal human experience. We find new connections, feel welcomed and build new friendships through new creative activities.
Structure and Governance
Our current trustees are Fatoumata Ba, Viv Bignell, Ruth Cochrane, Sarah Franke, Iwona Salamon, and Shaazna Shanoon. We are always keen to recruit new trustees and would particularly welcome anyone with relevant skills. As well as our trustees, we have a small committee who also support our work. Helen Barbour, and Charlene Lawrence are our committee members.
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Friends of Hannah More
Trustees’ Annual Report (continued)
Year ended 31 July 2025
Plans for 2024/25 and beyond
We plan to welcome more people to meetings and ensure these are productive, maintaining funding levels, supporting new commissioned courses, supporting the cultural capital agenda at school, maintaining the website and celebrating our wider community.
Financial Review
The charity maintains its reserves at a level sufficient to enable it to plan and commit for up to a year ahead based on reasonable projections for known or likely income and expenditure during that period.
Reserves are restricted if the initial receipt of income from a grant, donation or similar was for a specified project or items of expenditure. At 31 July 2025 the charity had £2,338 (2024 £2,200) in general reserves and £29,923 (2024 £9,817) restricted reserves.
Main sources of funding
Grants and donations from trusts, foundations, and individuals.
Expenditure in support of charitable objectives
Throughout 2024/25 the charity has worked to ensure that all expenditure has been made to further the objectives of the organisation. However, Friends acknowledge that there is a great deal of pressure on school budget and there has been greater commitment to costing overheads into funding bids wherever possible.
Statement of responsibilities of the trustees
The trustees are required to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and the incoming resources and application of resources, including the net income or expenditure, of the charity for the year. In preparing those financial statements the trustees is required to:
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Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently.
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Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent.
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State whether applicable accounting standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements.
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Prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity. The trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The trustees confirm that to the best of their knowledge there is no information relevant to the audit of which the auditor is unaware. The trustees also confirm that they have taken all necessary steps to ensure that they themselves are aware of all relevant audit information and that this information has been communicated to the auditor.
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Friends of Hannah More
Trustees’ Annual Report (continued)
Year ended 31 July 2025
Approved by the trustees April 2026 and signed on their behalf by:
Ruth Cochrane
Chair of Friends of Hannah More
5
Friends of Hannah More
Statement of Financial Activity (including income and expenditure account)
for the year ended 31 July 2025
| Year ended | Year ended |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestrictd | Restricted | 31 July | 31 July | |||
| Funds | Funds | 2025 | 2024 | |||
| Notes | £ | £ | £ | £ | ||
| Income and endowments | ||||||
| from: | ||||||
| Charitable activities | 3 | 138 | 12,960 | 13,098 | 39,619 | |
| Donations | 4 | - | 44,431 | 44,431 | 101,865 | |
| Total | 138 | 57,391 | 57,529 | 141,484 | ||
| Expenditure on: | ||||||
| Donations and charitable | ||||||
| activities | 5 | - | (37,285) | (37,285) | (140,155) | |
| Total | - | (37,285) | (37,285) | (140,155) | ||
| Net income | 138 | 20,106 | 20,244 | 1,329 | ||
| Net movement in funds | 138 | 20,106 | 20,244 | 1,329 | ||
| Total funds brought forward | 2,200 | 9,817 | 12,017 | 10,688 | ||
| Total funds carried forward | 2,338 | 29,923 | 32,261 | 12,017 |
All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above.
The notes on pages 8 and 9 form part of these financial statements.
6
Friends of Hannah More
Balance Sheet
as at 31 July 2025
| 31 July | 31 July | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | ||
| Notes | £ |
£ | |
| ASSETS | |||
| Current: | |||
| Cash at bank | 32,261 | 12,032 | |
| Total current assets | 32,261 | 12,032 | |
| LIABILITIES | |||
| Creditors: amounts due to within 1 year | 7 | - | 15 |
| Net current assets | 32,261 | 12,017 | |
| Net assets | 32,261 | 12,017 | |
| Funds | |||
| Restricted | 29,922 | 9,817 | |
| Unrestricted | 2,339 | 2,200 | |
| Total Funds | **32,261 ** | 12,017 |
The financial statements is approved by the trustees on April 2026 and signed on their behalf by:
F. Shaazna Shanoon
The notes on pages 8 and 9 form part of these financial statements.
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Friends of Hannah More
Notes
(forming part of the financial statements)
1 General Information and Statement of compliance
Friends of Hannah More (Friends) is a charity. Friends supports its community by funding enrichment activities for children and running inclusive courses for adults to learn new skills and socialize. They also assist families, provide support to individuals, and have a welfare fund for families facing challenging circumstances.
For the period ended 31 July 2025, the charitable company was entitled to the exemption under section 477(2) of the Companies Act 2006.
No members have required the company to obtain an audit of its accounts for the period in question in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.
The trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for ensuring that the company keeps accounting records complying with section 386, and preparing accounts which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company as at 31 July 2025, and of its profit or loss for the financial period in accordance with section 393, and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to accounts, so far as applicable to the company.
The financial statements are prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small entities.
All amounts are rounded to the nearest pound.
2 Accounting policies
a) The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with the Companies Act 2006, the Financial Reporting Standard for Small Entities (FRSSE 2015), and the requirements of the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP FRSSE 2015) based thereon.
b) Income from charitable activities - restricted funds are received by way of grants, donations and gifts and is included in full in the SOFA when receivable.
c) Charitable activities - unrestricted funds are credited to the Statement of Financial Activity when received of receivable whichever is earlier, unless they relate to a specific future period, in which case they are deferred.
d) Expenditure on charitable activities is recognised in the period in which they are incurred. Resources expended include attributable VAT which cannot be recovered.
e) Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor. Expenditure which meets these criteria is charged to the fund.
f) Unrestricted funds are donations and other incoming resources received or generated for the charitable purposes.
3 Income from charitable activities
| 31 July | 31 July | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted | Restricted | 2025 | 2024 | |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| Lottery Income | - | 6,200 | 6,200 | - |
| Quartet | - | 3,860 | 3,860 | 5,030 |
| General Income | 138 | 1,900 | 2,038 | - |
| IVAR | - | 1,000 | 1,000 | - |
| BCC (WECA) | - | - | - | 16,310 |
| Windrush | - | - | - | 6,235 |
| Nisbet | - | - | - | 4,470 |
| General | - | - | - | 3,224 |
| National Grid | - | - | - | 2,350 |
| Sported foundation | - | - | - | 2,000 |
| 123121383 | 12,960 | 13,098 | 39,619 |
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Friends of Hannah More
Notes
(forming part of the financial statements)
4 Income from donations
| 31 July | 31 July | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | |
| £ | £ | |
| HMRC Gift aid | 34,091 | - |
| Peter McCartney | 6,000 | 15,000 |
| Merchant Venturers | 4,340 | - |
| Margot Cooper | - | 82,280 |
| Limbs and Things | - | 4,250 |
| Bristol SW Sports | - | 260 |
| Burges Salmon | - | 60 |
| McIntosh | - | 15 |
| **44,431 ** | 101,865 |
5 Expenditure on Donations and Charitable Activities
| 31 July | 31 July |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted | Restricted |
2025 | 2024 | ||
| £ | £ |
£ | £ | ||
| General | - | 34,525 |
34,525 | 50,693 | |
| Quartet | - | 2,760 |
2,760 | - | |
| Touchwood | - | - |
- | 86,530 | |
| Lottery/Sport | - | - |
- | 2,857 | |
| BCC (WECA) | - | - |
- | 75 | |
| - | 37,285 |
37,285 | 140,155 | ||
| 6 Net movement in funds | |||||
| 31 July | 31 July |
||||
| 2025 | 2024 | ||||
| £ | £ | ||||
| Trustees’ reimbursed expenses | 429 | 177 | |||
| Trustees’ remuneration | - | - |
7 Creditors and accruals
| 31 July | 31 July |
|
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | |
| £ | £ | |
| Other payables | - | 15 |
| Closing balance | - | 15 |
8 Taxation
The charity is exempt from corporation tax as all income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes.
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